Sakamoto's Age: 6.5
Location: Braelor, post-siege
State of the Party: Fractured
State of the World: Watching.
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Opening Line:
They called me a hero that night.
But I didn't feel like one.
I felt like a weapon that didn't break fast enough.
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Ravian Between Life and Death
They laid him on stone, not straw.
His pulse was scattered — soulband damage means he's bleeding through time, not flesh.
Sakamoto knelt beside him.
> "I'll fix this."
> "You can't," said the healer. "Not unless you bind him to something else."
> "Like what?"
> "A person. A name. A reason to stay."
Sakamoto didn't speak.
But later that night, he held Ravian's hand and whispered:
> "You were the first to believe in me.
Now I'm asking you to stay long enough… to see if you were wrong."
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Eira's Fractured Flashback
Eira walked Braelor's broken walls.
Cold air wrapped around her.
Her glyphs pulsed like they were hearing music no one else could hear.
She stopped.
And suddenly—
She saw him.
Not Sakamoto.
Aevum.
Older. Bloodied. Holding Niris with one hand, Aelira with the other.
The castle around them was collapsing.
> "Don't forget me," he told Aelira.
And then—
Eira collapsed.
> "Why do I remember this?" she whispered.
"Why do I know her name?"
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Niris Speaks the Truth
Later, Sakamoto sat beside her hilt — now cracked and dark-veined.
> "Why did I feel nothing when I won?"
> "Because you didn't win," she said.
> "What did I lose?"
> "The illusion that being powerful means being okay."
She glowed faintly.
And for a moment…
she looked like a girl again.
Not a sword.
Not a weapon.
Just someone… broken, like him.
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The Title Offer
The governor of Braelor came with a scroll.
Gold-sealed.
A crown embedded into the wax.
> "The capital wants to name you officially."
> "As what?"
> "Warden of the Reach. Lord of Fire.
They're offering you legitimacy."
Sakamoto burned the scroll in his hand.
> "If they have to name me to believe I matter…
then they're not worth my name."
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Final Scene – The Real Threat Moves
Far in the capital, inside the drowned vault,
a coffin cracked open.
A man stepped out.
No heartbeat.
No breath.
Only silence.
> "Who is he?" a high mage asked.
The cardinal answered:
> "The only person Aevum ever bowed to.
His mentor.
His mistake."